My 2023 Retrospective

While there’s no actual deadline, timeline or expectation when it comes to sharing my retrospectives, I do prefer sharing them at the very end of the calendar year. But that clearly did not happen last year, so here I am, sharing this retrospective over a month later than I originally planned. And despite the delay, I’m excited to share because 2023 was jam-packed with lots of good things!

As you’ll know if you read my 2022 retrospective, that year was challenging for me on a personal level. 2023 wasn’t without its own difficulties, but it was a year that felt so much more fulfilling and fun. I did a lot of traveling, spent so much quality time with people I love, and got to do quite a few things in and around New York. It really felt like a reset year combined with an adventure year in so many ways, and I was so grateful and relieved for it after the mostly harrowing nature of 2022.

What did I take away from my time in 2023? I gave myself the grace to live in the moment. I leaned into rest, understanding when I hit my limits (physically or emotionally) and stepping back to recenter. I also realized that it’s perfectly fine that I have so many different hobbies and areas of interest, but that I wanted to make sure that I found a way to balance them all a bit better. My work-life balance significantly improved, as well as my handling of my finances (we’re making progress and it makes me feel like an adult!) and my TBR (I read so many of my own books and enjoyed them, which is a treat and hopefully, I can do it again this year!).

Anyway, on to the memories that I made in 2023! My entire year was festive and celebratory for a number of reasons, and it brought me a lot of joy to walk through it again when I was drafting this post.

JANUARY: Deep-cleaned the apartment with mom & dad’s help; Song of Silver, Flame Like Night event; Mel & Steven’s civil wedding (+ reception and karaoke); family comes to town; Hell Bent event; weekend getaway with Macky on Roosevelt Island

FEBRUARY: visiting Cancun; Mel & Steven’s wedding; Ben Barnes concert with Danica + Rachel; Rachel’s disco Dua Lipa birthday; The Last Tale of the Flower Bride book event; Some Like It Hot with Mom and Rachel; visiting The Edge and doing other NY things with mom and dad; Last Violent Call book event

MARCH: A Day of Fallen Night book event; Grey’s belated birthday party; Suzume early screening with Macky; evacuating because a fire caused too much smoke by the apartment; ABBA-themed Candlelit Concert

APRIL: Asian Aunties go to the Bronx Zoo; NY day out with Mela; Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow book event; RJ & Edu’s housewarming party; The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue book event; visiting Santa Barbara; Bianca and Josh’s wedding; Jill and Mako in NY; RADWIMPS concert with Macky

MAY: visiting the Bahamas with Rachel; visiting Philly with Rachel, Mela and Yanna; Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour twice; Yellowface book event; the Elstons visit NY; Memorial Day hangout

JUNE: Taylor Swift exhibit at MAD; Chynna is in town; TS Eras party; Ed Sheeran concert; first beach day of the year; New York, New York with Macky; Like Water for Chocolate ballet

JULY: Beat the Bomb with the fam; 4th of July hangs; Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) listening party; Water Lantern Festival; Age of Madness concert; Immortal Longings book event; Saturday trip to Beacon

AUGUST: Birthday festivities; Family Lore book event; Masters of Death book event; Jonas Brothers concert; Her Radiant Curse book event

SEPTEMBER: celebrated our 10th wedding anniversary with a renewal ceremony; a Brooklyn day out; visiting Prince Edward Island with Rachel; Merrily We Roll Along with Macky, Pat & Ian; Getaway weekend

OCTOBER: Wreck the Halls book event; Wicked the Musical with DJ; NYCC; Taylor Swift: The Eras tour film with the fam; Unholy Terrors book event; The Great Gatsby with Macky; A Curse for True Love book event; Kit-sitting weekend

NOVEMBER: Autumnal Saturday picnic, visited the Noguchi Museum + MOMA PS1; autumnal day out with Rachel; cozy Thanksgiving vibes; Reyna Ube’s drag debut

DECEMBER: Stephen Schwarz with Macky; Back to the Future with Macky; Astra Lumina with Danica; Christmas festivities; Kahl comes to town

Thanks for revisiting the past year with me by reading this post!

Cheers to 2024 being a good, solid year for us all.